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Author Discussion, Slide Show, and Signing at The Book Works
Tuesday 17 October, 7 pm
Marjorie Pivar, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain
Set during the French and American wars in South Vietnam, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is the true story of an orphan, Quang Van Nguyen, adopted by a sixty-four-year-old monk, Thau, who carries great responsibility for his people as a barefoot doctor and spiritual leader. Thau manages against all odds to raise his son to follow in his footsteps and in doing so saves him, as well as a a part of Vietnam’s esoteric knowledge from the Vietnam holocaust.
As wise and resourceful as Thau is,
he meets his match in his mischievous son. Quang is more interested
in learning Cambodian sorcery and martial arts than in developing
his skills and wisdom according to his father’s plan.
Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is an odyssey of a single-father
folk hero and his foundling son in a land ravaged by the atrocities
of war. It is a classic story complete with humor, tragedy, and insight,
from a country where ghosts and magic are real.
Marjorie Pivar worked for the past twenty years as a Shiatsu therapist in the field of alternative medicine. She encouraged Quang to share his remarkable story after he advised the pediatric medical team at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to make the correct diagnosis for her son.